Railway signaling system.



T. M. PREEBLE. RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED APB.29,'1Q11.

?a$enteel Feb. 6, 1912.

WM 'EQXAMAQOULY WITNESSES UhlllTElU tdTAiTE PATENT @hlhlfild.

THOMAS M. FREEBLE, OF ROCHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TRAYMOND M. KAU'EIILANN, 0F EITTSBUBGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

BAIL'W SIGKXTALING SYSTEM.

LGitLSSZ, Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 29, 1911.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known. that I, TrioMAs M. Fnnnnnn, ofRochester, Beaver county,Pennsylvanla,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway Signaling Systems,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustratingone embodiment of my invention;

and Fig. 2 is a detail view showing one of the switch devices orcontrollers.

My-invention has relation to railway signaling systems of the blocksection type; and is designed to provide a system which, whileapplicable to railways generally, is

particularly adapted for use on railways which are divided, by means ofinsulation 4, into a plurality of blocks or sections of any desiredlength, as indicated at A, B, C and D.

S, S, S S .designate semaphores, or other signal devices, which guardrespectively the entrance to the blocks 'A, B, C and D.

R, R, R, R designate respectively the relays which control the severalsemaphores in any well known or usual manner.

B, B, B and B designate sources of current supply for the severalblocks, and which may consist of simple batteries. Each of these sourcesof current supply is con nected to the rails 2 of adjacent blocksections at opposite sides of the insulation 4:, the points ofconnection being closely adjacent to the insulation. The distancebetween the two terminal connections of each battery with the rails 2 issuch that the battery can be short-circuited through the truck Patentedlleb. it, 1912.

Serial No. 824,152.

of a car or other vehicle having wheels standing at opposite sides ofthe two connections. The battery connections at the opposite ends ofeach block are of opposite character, so that the two batteriesconnected to any one block are caused to oppose each other, andpractically no current flows in the track rails 2.

It will be apparent that it signal controlling relays are connected tothe batteries, or to the track rails closely adjacent to the batteries,the magnets of these relays will be normally energized by the batterycurrent; but that as soon as a car or other vehicle comes to a positionin which its front truck wheels stand at opposite sides of the insulatedjoints at the entrance to a block, the battery will be short-'circuitedthrough the truck wheels and frame and the relay mag nets will bedeenergized to actuate atignal. Inasmuch as the short-cirouiting of thebatteries is effected in this manner, and there is no signal currentflowing in the rails 2, it will be apparent that if metal ties areemployed in the track construction, it is wholly unnecessary to insulatethese ties from the track rails. Where metal ties are employed, it is,of course, necessaryto divide both track rails 2 and 3 into insulatedsections. it the invention were applied to a railway track .using woodenties, the track rails 3 might be used without insulated joints.

My invention is obviously applicable to various arrangements of signals,arranged to be operated by the short-circuiting of the batteries in themanner described. The particular arrangement which I have shown andwhich will now be described, is illustrative only, and forms no part ofmy broader claims, although certain features thereof will bespecifically claimed.

- Each of the relays R, R, R and R consists of two magnets m, m. Themagnet m of each relay is connected through a movable armature a withthe track rail :2 of one block section and is connected on the oppositeside to the track rail 2 of the receiving block section, the trackconnections being made closely adjacent to the battery connectionsacross the insulated joint between said sections. Thus, in the relay 1%,the

magnet m is connected through" one side through the armature a to thetrack rail 2 ofi the block section B closelyadj'acentto hicle comes to aposition such as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1, in which itshort-circuits the battery of any block, corresponding relay magnet mguarding the entrance to that block will be-short-circuited and thesignal thereby niovedto danger. At the same time, the relay magnet m atthe entrance to the preceding block will also" be deenergized and dropits armature. In order to provide for the reenergization of the magnetsand the proper clearing move ments of the signals, I provide in eachblock a switch or controller 0, 0, c 0 This con troller may be ofvarious forms. As shown in Fig. 2, it consists of a magnet 5 having itscoils connected in shunt across the adj acent battery. The armature 6 ofthis magnet has a stem 7 extending into dash pot 8, and has an actuatingconnection 9 with a movable contactlever 10. This contact lever isconnected by conductor 11 with the connection leading from the magnet inat the entrance of the block to the track rail 2. The controller alsohas a fixed contact 12 located in the path of movement of the lever 10,and which is connected by conductor 13 with the relay magnet m at theentrance to the block, it loeing understood from Fig. 1 that eachcontroller is placed near the exit end of its block.

14: is a guard device, which is so arranged that when the contact lever10 is released by the magnet 5, it will cause said lever to drop alongthe outer side of the guard and not engage the contact 12; but when thesaid lever 10 is raised by the magnet, it will ride underneath thisguard and come into momentary engagement with the contact 12, thuscompleting a circuit through the magnet m. At the same time that thelocomotive or other vehicle short-circuits the relay magnet m, it alsoshort-circuits the controller magnet 5 which is in parallel with themagnet m, and thereby drops the lever 10 into the position shown in Fig.2. As soon a the last truck of the vehicle or train has passed beyondthe insulated joint, the mag nets 5 are again energized, therebyattracting the lever 10 and causing a circuit to be completed throughthe magnet m at the entrance of the block which the train or vehicle hasjust left. At the same time a circuit will be closed through the magnetm of the preceding block. Thus, supposing a train or vehicle to havejust passed out of the block C, the magnet m of the relay R and themagnet m of the relay R will both be momentarily energized by the actionof the controller 0 as just described; and this will cause armatures ofsaid magnets to be attracted and the normal circuit m of the relay R tobe closed. The action of the magnet m, will set the signal S at cautionposition; and the action of the magnet m will clear the signal S. Inthis manner,

. the entrance of the vehicle or train into any block sectionimmediately sets the signal guarding that section at danger. As soon asthe last truck of the vehicle or train has passed the insulated joint,the signalguarding the preceding section is set at caution, and thesignal guarding the next succeeding section is cleared.

T he advantages of my invention will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, since it obviates the difficulty heretoforeexperienced with metal ties in properly insulating the ties from therails; When used with wooden ties on an electrically propelled road, itobviates the employment of induction bonds in the rails 2 for preventingthe passage of the signaling current from one block to nother, and insuch a system the track rail 3 can be made electrically continuous forthe propulsion current. Theinvention is also applicable to electricallypropelled roads using metal ties by using sig; naling current of adistinctive character from the propulsion current, with proper bondingfor the propulsion current across the insulated joints. lVhere theinvention is used in connection with metal ties, the block insulations4: should of course be placed directly opposite 'each other in the twotrack rails. My invention further provides a very simple and elfectivesignaling system.

that I claim is 1. In a railway signaling system, a track rail dividedinto insul-atedsections, a source of signaling current having oppositeterminals connected to the respective sections at opposite sides of theinsulation and adjacent thereto, and normally closed signal controllingcircuits also having their terminals connected to said sections atopposite sides of the insulation, the two sources of current connectedto each track section being connected thereto to oppose each other;substantially as described.

2. In a rail signaling system, a track rail divided into sectionsinsulated from each other, and sources of current having their oppositeterminals connected to adjacent rails at opposite sides of theseparating in sulations to be short-circuited by the wheels of a vehiclebridging the=insulations, and signal mechanisms connected in normallyclosed circuits with the sources of current,

misses .vided into block section's insulated from each other 'andavsource of current for each block sectioi'r having its terminalsbridging "the insulation, the two sources of current /connected to eachsection being arrangedto 'op pos e each other; a signal circuit for eachblock connected to the said track rall at points adjacent to theconnections lot the source of current, substantially as described.

4. In a railway, signaling system, a track rail divided into blocks orsections, sources of current supply each having its terminals connectedto the ends of adjacent blocks or sections around the insulation, thetwo sources connected to each block or section being oppositelyconnected to thereby oppose each other, and signaling mechanismconnected to the said rail adjacent to the points of connection of asource of current and having a normally closed circuit, sub stantiallyas described. 5

5. In a railway signaling system, a track rail having insulated blocksor sections, sources of current each of which has one terminal connectedto the rail of one block adjacentto an insulated joint, anu its otherterminal connected to the corresponding rail of the adjacent block atthe other side of the insulated joint, signal-controlling relays each owhich has two magnets in series, one of magnets being located near theentrance to the block and the other near the exit of the block,andhaving their terminals connected with the source at opposite sides,of the insulated joint, and switch devices one a which is connectedacross each source of current and having contacts which assist in thecontrol of the relay magnet circuits; substantially as described.

6. In a railway signaling system the combination with a divided trackrail having insulated joints at the divisions thereof, of a relay magnetconnected to the track rail at opposite sides of an insulated jointtherein, a switch device connected in parallel with the magnet, and amagnet-energizing circuit controlled by the switch device; substantiallyas described.

7 In a railway signaling system the combination with a divided trackrail having inggllated joints at the divisions thereof, of a relaymagnetconnected to the track rail at opposite sides of an insulated jointtherein, a switch device connected in parallel with controlled by theswitch device, said switch device ,l iaving a magnet in the parallel connection'tia movable contact arranged to be controlled by said magnet,and means whereby said contact device is effectively operative in onedirection only of its movement; sub stantially as described.

8. In a railway signaling system, a'track rail having insulated blocksor sections,

' sources, of current each of which has one terminal connected to therail of one block adjacent to an insulated joint and its other terminalconnected to the corresponding rail of the adjacent block at the otherside of the insulated joint, a signaling circuit connected to said,railat opposite sides of the insulation and adjacent to the connections ofthe source of current, and a plurality of signal-controlling magnets inseries in said circuit, said magnetsbeing located respectively near theextreme ends of two successive blocks, substantially as described.

9.,In a railway signaling system, a track rail having insulated blocksor sections, sources of current each of which has one terminalconnectedto the rail of one block adjacent to an insulated joint and itsother terminal connected to the corresponding rail of the adjacent blockat the other side of the insulated joint, a signaling circuit connectedto said rail at opposite sides of the insula- T. M. FREEBLE.

Witnesses A. I). KAUFMANN, H. M. Conwm.

the magnet, and a magnet-energizing circuit tion and adjacent to theconnections of the

